Chandigarh, December 8
A thriving racket in the sale of All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) forms at city bookstores today came to light after hundreds of engineering students returned disappointed today from the Sector 17 branch of Syndicate Bank, the only authorised bank to sell these forms. There the bank staff told them that the forms were “out of stock”.

The bookstores were later found to be selling them at a profit for Rs 600 per form instead of its actual cost of Rs 500.

A Tribune team also came upon agents standing right outside the bank, publicising the bookstores where these forms were easily available,

While students have been frantically running around to get their hands on the forms due to a much-hyped “shortage”, the regional office of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) claimed the forms were not out of stock in the city.

“We are investigating the matter now and have not permitted anybody to sell the AIEEE forms except the Sector 17 branch of Syndicate Bank. We don’t know what the bank did with the forms after they were delivered to it. In any case no bookstore is authorised to sell these forms on profit and even selling them in bulk is not allowed. The forms are readily available - today itself 7,000 more were ordered,” said CBSE regional director DR Yadav.

Though not ruling out the possibility of some bookstores selling fake forms, he said, “The serial numbers of all forms are in our records and those illegally selling them will be easily traced”.

At the Sector 17 branch of Syndicate Bank the Tribune team saw a notice on the display board saying the forms were “out of stock” and were available at Delhi Public School, Sector 40, Syndicate Bank, Sector 38 branch, and the CBSE regional office, Sector 5.

Parents of students who had come to Sector 17 to buy the forms appeared a harassed lot. “We couldn’t get the forms at the Syndicate Bank branch here. The staff told us they were out of stock. However, my daughter told me they were available at three bookstores in Sector 36 and another one in Sector 34”, said YK Khanna, a parent of an engineering student who had come to buy the form.

When our team visited some of these bookstores in Sector 34 and 36 it discovered the forms were easily available there.

Every year thousands of students sit for the All India Engineering Entrance Examination to seek admission in prestigious engineering colleges on the basis of their scores in the test.

Meanwhile, the CBSE regional office has said students should inform it about any illegal sale of AIEEE forms, and should produce the serial number of the forms they have purchased to check their authenticity.

Chandigarh, December 8
A man accused of seeking dowry today sought action against his in-laws for giving him dowry.

In a one of its kind complaint, the petitioner, Ravinder Singh Dhanju of Attawa village here, has moved the court, seeking directions under Section 156(3) of the CrPC for directing the in charge of women cell, Sector 17, and the SHO of the Sector 36 police station for the registration of an FIR against his in-laws under Section 3 of the Dowry Prohibition Act read with Sections 120-B and 34 of the IPC.

The court has fixed January 19 as the date of hearing. The petitioner, who is facing a dowry case in Hisar, has alleged that in an FIR registered against him by his wife, Baljinder Kaur, she has admitted that her father, Tara Singh Thind, mother Jaswant Kaur, relatives and neighbours spent around Rs 18-19 lakh on her marriage. Also, it was mentioned in the FIR that 45 tolas of gold and a large amount of cash was given.

The petitioner alleged that the Haryana police, while registering the complaint, ignored the fact that giving dowry was also a cognisable offence under Section 3 of the Dowry Prohibition Act and attracted imprisonment up to five years.

It, however, forgot to mention the 95 per cent of unsolved cases of vehicle theft. As per police records, out of the 955 vehicles stolen from the city till October 31 this year, only 53 were recovered from the accused while 112 were found abandoned.

Showering praises on the police, the administration took note of the “constraints”, including shortage of staff, saying that its men in khaki had not allowed this to affect their performance in the past three years.

The authorities concerned have failed to bring on record the unsolved murder and robbery cases, besides the rising incidents of vehicle theft, burglary, snatching and other unlawful activities giving sleepless nights to residents.

Two sensational murders rocked the city this year. Sham Mall owner Amarjit Singh was shot and an elderly woman Santosh Kumari of Sector 42 was found electrocuted in a gruesome manner. In another case, a woman was robbed of Rs 5 lakh at her house in Sector 35 on August 13.

The SSP, SS Srivastva, said in 2006, six cases under the Arms Act, 181 cases under the NDPS Act, 323 cases under the Gambling Act, 297 under the Excise Act and 110 under miscellaneous Acts had been registered. The force worked out all Arms Act cases, 179 NDPS cases, all gambling cases, 295 Excise Act cases and 101 miscellaneous cases.

In 2007 also, the police registered and worked out all five cases registered under the Arms Act, 144 cases under the NDPS Act, 235 under the Gambling Act, 311 under the Excise Act. Out of the 158 cases registered under miscellaneous Acts, 147 were cracked.

Claiming that the police had achieved close to 100 per cent workout rate in organised crime, the SSP said the police had registered and solved seven cases under the Arms Act, 91 under the NDPS Act, 212 under the Gambling Act and 234 cases under the Excise Act. Out of the 61 cases registered under miscellaneous heads, 57 were worked out.

Commenting on the success story, a retired police officer expressed surprise over the workout rate in liquor smuggling, drug peddling and gambling cases. “All these cases are registered on the spot after recovering incriminating articles and there is not much to be done later. Why the police has not mentioned the recovery rate on burglaries, thefts and snatchings is anybody’s guess. The incidents of pelting stones at police stations, police post and beat boxes are enough to illustrate the prevailing lawlessness,” he added.

Chandigarh, December 8
The MC is powerless to take action against violators of the hedge and fences policy in the city. All it can do is issue show-cause notices for encroaching on government land.

The “credit” for this goes to the horticulture and enforcement department, which pass the buck to each other, claiming that they have no power to take action against such encroachers.

Almost two years ago the authorities had framed the hedge and fences policy, according to which, residents were required to obtain a license for raising the hedge up to 2 ft and 10 ft away from kerbs (for V-5 roads) and 2 ft and 6 ft away from kerbs (V-6 roads). No hedges or fences were allowed on V-1, V-2, V-3 and V-4 roads and the violators were to be punished as per the bylaws.

The policy mentioned that the residents could only beautify MC land adjoining their homes by growing grass and parking of vehicles was allowed in that area. According to the policy, the horticulture department could issue notices to violators to remove the encroachments.

The notices are issued on the basis of a complaint received from the public as the department has no special team to conduct surveys to check such violations. The purpose of the policy was to keep a check on encroachments on V5 and V6 roads due to which problems like parking and accidents were increasing.

Most residents had erected illegal hedges, barbed fences and iron grills in front and side of their houses, covering the road reservation area in violation of the Chandigarh (Control and Regulation of Hedge and Fences) Bylaws.

The policy was framed but it does not mention who would keep a check on violators and which department would conduct drives to remove such encroachments, besides the amount of fine to be imposed.

Sources revealed that the horticulture department had written a letter to the enforcement department to conduct a drive against such violators.

Officials in the enforcement department, however, said they had replied to the horticulture department that the removal of hedges and fences was not under its jurisdiction as it was responsible for the removal of commercial encroachments.

They said they could only provide the staff to assist in such a drive.

Chandigarh, December 8
In a bid to bridge the north-south divide, the Chandigarh administration has decided to promote southern sectors in a big way through the auction of a large number of residential and commercial sites on December 16 and 17.

Of the 133 sites to go under the hammer, 121 sites, 39 residential and 82 commercial, are in Sectors 31, 32, 33, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 and 42.

At a time when the real estate sector in Chandigarh’s periphery is reeling under recession, the administration has been putting up a brave front. The focus on southern sectors is deliberate. With northern sectors bursting at the seams, the focus on southern sectors will go a long way in restoring the confidence of residents of southern sectors.

Among the commercial sites to go under the hammer, 15 lodging-cum-restaurant sites in Sector 43 in the vicinity of the new Inter-State Bus Terminus will take care of board and lodging and food requirements of thousands of visitors to the city.

A full-fledged booth market in Sector 39, consisting of 60 booths, will go under the hammer. Seeing the response to past auctions in the city, optimism of officials is not out of place.

At the last auction on October 23, 2008, the administration had netted Rs 95.31 crore through the auction of six commercial and 34 residential sites.

At the last auction, a five-marla plot in Sector 38-D was sold for Rs 83 lakh against the reserve price of Rs 41 lakh, two four-marla plots in Sector 42-B went for Rs 60.60 lakh each against the reserve price of Rs 32 lakh and a 10-marla plot in Sector 40-B fetched Rs 1.71 crore.

A one-kanal plot was sold for Rs 4 crore against the reserve price of Rs 1.81 crore and a two-kanal plot in Sector 36 fetched Rs 5.42 crore against the reserve price of Rs 3.15 crore. The average price per square yard for residential property worked out to be Rs 55,299 while it was Rs 3,18,862 in the commercial segment.

Phase III sectors get raw deal

Once again, the phase III sectors, including Sector 48 to 51, having thousands of cooperative group housing society flats, have been given a raw deal in the auction.

Though large tracts of commercial area in these sectors have been laying underdeveloped, the administration has failed to include in any of these areas in the proposed auction.

Chandigarh, December 8
Had the police not ignored the threat perception complaint lodged by Harjinder Singh Dhillon about five months ago before he was allegedly killed by Davinder Singh, alias Whiskey, his life would have been saved.

Sources in the police informed that the fact came to light during investigation that Dhillon had lodged a complaint in this regard at the Sector 19 police station. He had stated that some persons had come to his office and threatened to kill him.

A police officer said timely action by the police could have saved Dhillon’s life. The SHO of the Sector 19 police station said: “I am not aware of any such complaint and cannot say anything off hand.”

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the police had got the statements of Simmi Sharma, the sole eyewitness to the murder and Dhillon’s employee, recorded before the magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC. Citing it as a significant development in the case, a police officer said the investigators had got the statement recorded before the magistrate to avoid any chances of manipulation or dilution at later stage.

Her statements would play a crucial role in taking the case to its logical conclusion.

In a related development, the police today arrested two more accomplices of Whiskey, Ravinder of Khanna and Manish of Faizulapur village in Fatehgarh Sahib district. They were accompanying him when he reportedly shot Dhillon.

The police said the accused would be produced before a local court tomorrow for police remand. It had earlier arrested four other accomplices of Whiskey from near the cremation ground at Sector 25.

Chandigarh, December 8
Three men — one from Chandigarh and two belonging to Punjab -- died of swine flu here today. Meanwhile, five fresh cases have also been reported.

The death toll from the city has risen to four while the remaining 11 victims belonged to neighbouring towns and districts. Jaswinder from Hoshiarpur and Karan Goyal from Patiala died at the PGI while 22-year-old Yadvinder Singh succumbed to the deadly virus at a city hospital. He was a resident of Sector 29.

According to health officials, all three had acute respiratory tract infections. Of the five new patients who tested positive, one is a 19-year-old youth from Chandigarh, two from Ludhiana, one from Pinjore and one from Una (HP). Health officials said the total number of those affected had now reached 168.

Chandigarh, December 8
UT Administrator SF Rodrigues yesterday reviewed the progress of various development projects, including the Modern Terminal Market and the Medicity, and asked officers to take further necessary steps for the implementation of these schemes. During a public hearing session, Rodrigues also emphasised that special focus should be given to public utility services like electricity and water supply and their optimal and judicious utilisation should be ensured for increasing supply hours.

Congratulating the administration for implementing the slum rehabilitation programme and winning the first prize at the national level in this stream, he said the programme needed to be constantly monitored and NGOs should be involved in educating slum-dwellers for living as a community and utilising the necessary infrastructure in a proper manner.

Meanwhile, as part of the Armed Forces Flag Day, the Sainik Welfare Department teams of Punjab and Chandigarh pinned the Armed Forces’ flag here.

The Punjab team was led by Col Narinder Singh Panag and the UT team was headed by Deputy Commissioner Brijendra Singh. Interacting with defence officers on the occasion, Rodrigues asked them to restructure their programmes and involve the maximum ex-servicemen and students in their development projects. In a message on the occasion, General Rodrigues said the nation owed a great debt to soldiers, who spent the prime of their lives protecting boundaries and maintaining peace in the country.

Mohali, December 8
After months of wait, the UT engineering department has opened the link between road separating Sectors 54 and 55 to traffic.

“Though the road has been opened, work on a small section is in final stages,” said a UT engineering department official.

The road will ultimately link the road separating Phases 1 and II of Mohali and run up to Industrial Area, Phase 8, here.

The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority has plans to further widen the road separating Phases 1 and 2 as it will touch an under-construction Chandigarh bypass road from the Tribune chowk to Desu Majra, Kharar.

A GMADA official said under the inter-state coordination committee decision, the UT engineering department had started work on widening the road link between Sectors 51 and 52.

The UT had also cleared the project to lay a road between Sectors 50 and 51 and it would ultimately link the road separating Sectors 62 (Phase VIII) and 63 (Phase IX).

A senior official in GMADA said since the stretch separating Sectors 50 and 51 was already being used as a thoroughfare by residents, the UT just needed to lay a short stretch of the road for their convenience.

The officials said not just road sections moving east to west from Chandigarh to Mohali but also roads running from north to south within the two cities needed to be widened.

The pressure in the Mohali region was going to increase manifold as private residential projects doting Mohali’s periphery were located on roads that spread out to Banur, Kharar and Fatehgarh Sahib.

Going by projections in the master plan of the greater Mohali region 2008-2058, provided by the Singapore-based consultant, Jurong Ltd, a major share was being spent on providing six-lane and eight-lane roads to the neighbouring states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and the UT.

The catalyst of development would be the proposed international airport and high-volume inter-state traffic that otherwise passed through congested areas of Chandigarh and Mohali.

Another major road that would take shape of an expressway was being taken up to provide a direct link between Zirakpur-Patiala highway (NH-64) and the Chandigarh-Ropar highway (NH-21).

The proposed expressway would also provide a direct link to the proposed six-lane road planned from the international airport.

Besides, work had been completed on the road near Sector 48 that would ultimately pass through Industrial Area, Phase 9, and then pass behind Sectors 67, 68, 69, 70 and 71 before joining the Chandigarh-Kharar road near Desu Majra village.

GMADA is also undertaking widening of the Chandigarh-Mullanpur road till Majri, which would join the Chandigarh-Baddi road.

Mohali, December 8
Resentment prevailed among residents of Phase XI here today when sewage from a broken sewerage flooded an open area, spreading foul smell in the vicinity.

According to reports, a sewerage of the Chandigarh administration had been damaged a few days ago, creating problems for residents living in a pocket of Phase XI.

Residents had asked officials concerned to stop the flow of sewage in the pipeline till repairs were carried out.

Sukhminder Singh Barnala, councillor living in Phase XI, said residents of around 100 houses had to bear the foul smell due to the damaged sewerage.

He said the sewerage was shut down for some time but opened again today even when the repairs had not been carried out.

Infuriated residents gathered at the scene and threatened to gherao the officials concerned if the repair work was not carried out urgently.

Barnala said the sewerage treatment plant of the Chandigarh administration was located in Industrial Area, Phase IX, and treated water was carried back to the Union Territory for horticulture purposes.

He said water from these pipelines often leaked in the area, spreading foul smell. However, complaints made in this regard were not attended to on a priority basis.

However, the SDO concerned, Amit Sharma, denied the allegations levelled by Barnala.

He said the sewerage that had been damaged was repaired today and the supply was restored to test it.

He said leakages in the sewerage were attended to at the earliest. It took a little time to plug the leakages, as the line had to be emptied to carry out the repair work, he added.

Dera Bassi, December 8
Accusing municipal council president Manjit Kaur of not initiating development works on a priority basis, eight councillors will table a no-confidence motion against her at an MC meeting tomorrow.

A meeting of the councillors has been convened by the executive officer tomorrow in which the councillors will have to show their requisite majority.

In June, eight councillors had submitted a no-confidence motion against Manjit Kaur. According to MC sources, no-confidence motion could have been passed only by requisite majority of councillors. Since the opposing councillors could not muster the requisite majority, meeting could not be convened to discuss the issue, sources added.

There are 13 wards in Dera Bassi out of which SAD candidates have seven seats, BJP two and Congress one. The rest of the three seats have been claimed by independent candidates.

MC sources said councillors were divided into two groups. One group consisting of eight councillors was against the MC president, who was said to be close to former Akali stalwart Capt Kanwaljit Singh. Her own group had the support of five councillors.

The opposing councillors had alleged that while submitting the motion they had lost faith in the working style of the president.

She lacked knowledge of local problems due to which development activities in the area had been affected, they alleged.

Sources suggested that the opposing councillors were allegedly getting the support of a senior Akali leader to remove the MC president.

On the other hand, the councillors supporting the MC president have denied the allegations levelled by the rival group.

Residents said councillors did not care about the real issues and had forgotten the promises made during elections.

Chandigarh, December 8
Unprecedented rush of theatre buffs outnumbered by admirers of Bollywood stars, actor-director Satish Kaushik and Seema Biswas of Bandit Queen fame thronged the Tagore Theatre much before the Platform Theatre Company, Mumbai, unfolded the 10th edition of their popular production “Salesman Ramlal” in the ongoing TFT Festival.

The Indian version of Arthur Miller’s play, “Death of a Salesman”, sculpted and adapted aptly by playwright Imteyaz Hussein flourished under the direction of Feroze Abbas Khan.

Hussein had immaculately structured the play in an appropriate ambience with substantial aberration to the original English script even changing the names of characters suiting to the Indian milieu but retaining the basic concept and intent of original classic alive.

With realism deeply planted in the storyline and its execution, the play operates at different levels to reveal the plight of aging parents, their progeny failing to realise their dreams and all resulting into conflicts and acrimonious debates in the family. Dedicated Ramlal has a lot to boast of his sincere efforts to promote the business of a company he served with honesty and zeal, as also the lament that his employer ditched him when he needed help at the fag end of life, which had put him in depression.

Memory of his dead millionaire brother, shown in flashback, and the prosperous neighbour added more to his woes.

Ramlal is used to live in dreams always and builds castles in the air but being sentimental at the same time he remains indifferent to his revolting sons Bharat (Kishore Kadam) and Anand (Raj Arjun). He exhorts them to look smart, expressive and impressive rather than labourious and practical in life.

Bharat had a dormant affection for him, which is reciprocated by Ramlal too but the internal conflicts of difference of opinion come to the fore.

However, the caring and affectionate attitude of wife Ganga keeps him going despite unending problems in the family.

But the most accomplished actors Satish Kaushik and Seema Biswas were at their best, while enacting the sequences with contrasting themes. Ever best at comedy, Satish Kaushik, simultaneously melted into the tragic mood with consummate ease, while Seema was too realistic.

Chandigarh, December 8
Mad Arts, Jaspal Bhatti film school’s “Nanhi Chidiya”, an animation film on female foeticide, has won the second prize in the Advantage India, the three-minute film competition, organised by 1take Media.

The film is now being sent to be screened at River-to-River Florence Indian Film Festival in Italy.

The film has also been selected for film and video (non-competitive) section of the 11th Mumbai International Film Festival, an initiative of the film division, ministry of information and broadcasting, according to Savita Bhatti, Mad Arts chief executive official (CEO).

The film has been scripted by Jaspal Bhatti, directed by Jasraj Bhatti and has Gaurav Garg as technical director, modelling, animation and texturing have been done by Mad Arts students, Pankaj, Dinesh, Sukhwinder and Jagan.

The film has already won a certificate of merit at IDPA-2008 Awards in Mumbai. It has also won nominations in Chitrakatha ‘09 at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, and the Golden Cursor Awards, Mumbai, she added.

Chandigarh, December 8
The much awaited project of community parking in Sector 19-D would soon the see the light of the day with the authorities deciding to complete the work within two months. Mayor Kamlesh laid its foundation stone today.

The parking will be constructed at the cost of Rs 11 lakh. This is first such parking project in the city and will have a capacity to accommodate 200 vehicles.

Kamlesh said such parkings would be constructed in other sectors where there was acute shortage of parking of vehicles.

Chandigarh, December 8
A division bench of Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal of the Punjab and Haryana High Court yesterday stayed the dispossession of Kishan Lal Dang of Ferozepur village in Panchkula district till further orders.

The petitioner had challenged acquisition of his land as a part of creating Sectors 27, 28 and 30 at Pinjore urban estate.

The bench issued notice of motion to the Haryana government, HUDA and other respondents for January 18 next.

Yashwant Malhotra, Special Director General (Training), CRPF, who was in the city on the inaugural day of the 9th All-India Police Water Sports Championship-2009, talking to The Tribune here today said there were three main theatres, which include Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir and Leftist Wing extremism, in about seven states of the country. He said the force was providing specialised training for each theatre, as the situation in all three theatres was different. He said two battalions had already been established by the CRPF while other eight would be set up in 2011.

Malhotra said after the Kargil War of 1999, the government had deputed the force solely for the internal security and it had become necessary for the force to provide different training for different situations. He said before moving the force to these theatres the jawans were being provided special training for six months. He said they were also providing latest know-how to jawans to deal with the latest IED devices and detonators being used by subversive and extremist forces.

Special DG (Training) said the CRPF would also open three Central intelligence schools.

The first Central Intelligence Anti-Terrorist Training School (CIATTS) had been set up at Shivpuri, near Gawalior (MP), which would start soon to train the jawans for gathering information on its own in disturbed areas. He said the first batch of the force had been attached with the Intelligence Bureau in New Delhi for getting training in sharing of intelligence deeply and also in advance. He said the next training school would be opened in Raipur.

Chandigarh, December 8
Adviser to UT Administrator Pradip Mehra yesterday laid the foundation stone of community centre in Sector 22.

According to sources, the community centre would be set up in 1.17 acre and would be equipped with modern facilities, including sampark centre, library, server room, provision for indoor games and elevators. The project cost is estimated to be Rs 2 crore.

Addressing the gathering, Mehra said the administration was striving to extend the social network infrastructure within the city. Mehra desired that the community centres should be established in villages also.

Municipal Corporation Commissioner Dr Roshan Sunkaria said with the laying of the foundation stone, the long-pending demand of the city residents had been fulfilled.

Chandigarh, December 8
The Punjab and Haryana High Court Advocates Cooperative House Building Society, Sector 49, today felicitated Dr Yash Paul Sharma, additional professor with the department of cardiology at the PGI, for winning the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshani National Award 2009.

Addressing the gathering, Dr Sharma highlighted his latest research on ‘Eating with the help of brain signals and its impact: Yash India technique’.

He stressed on the need to eat less and take more time to chew food, which further helped in reducing heart diseases, asserting that modern-day diseases were self-created lifestyle diseases.

Chandigarh, December 8
A blood donation camp was organised at St Soldier Paradise Senior Secondary School,
Dhakoli. As many as 105 units of blood were donated. Dr Raj Bahadur, director-principal GMCH-32, was the chief guest.

He appreciated the efforts of people who organised the camp. A free medical health check up facility was also provided in the camp. Sardar Deepinder Singh Dhillon, senior Congress leader, also attended the camp.
— TNS

Chandigarh, December 8
The Panjab University students’ council has welcomed the announcement made by Vice-Chancellor, Prof RC Sobti, at the Senate meeting regarding the decision of the Central government to meet 60 per cent of the income-expenditure deficit of the university.

The council said the concession granted by the Central government spoke volumes of the efforts of the Vice-Chancellor to persuade the Central government to remove the cap i.e. Rs 32 crore and enhanced it further to the extend of 60 per cent of the total financial deficit faced by the university.

“The council members believe that this will boost the upgradation of the infrastructure and provision of the much needed facilities to the students of the university,” said Amit Bhatia, president, PU students’ council.

Lectures delivered

In the ongoing refresher course in performing arts and visual arts being conducted by the department of music under the able guidance of Dr Pankaj Mala Sharma, chairperson of the department, two eminent resource persons from the field of film and music came to deliver lectures to 48 participants of the course.

In the first session, Chaitanya S Nag, an eminent filmmaker, who had worked as the assistant director to Dev Anand, gave in depth talk on various arts of Europe and India through various periods and said India’s contribution to the world culture was of great importance.

The second resource person was the descendent of the 20th generation of Dagar family of Dhrupad Gayan, Wazifuddin Ji Dagar. He told the participants about various aspects of Dhrupad gayan. Dr Pankaj Mala Sharma presented a memento each to the resource persons and thanked them for coming and gracing the department and sharing their knowledge with the participants.

Placement drive

With the companies pouring in to select students for placement, the University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Panjab University, has already managed to place 33 per cent students on the onset of the placement season this year.

Companies like Vedanta has already selected four students with a package of Rs 4.5 lakh per annum, while others like Universal Oil Products had shortlisted only four institutes in the country other than the IIT’s and one of the students was from UICET.

Chandigarh, December 8
A seminar was organised at the ICSSR, Panjab University, today on “Ethics in corporate governance in India” by Aryans Business School (ABS) in association with the Bank of India.

Joginder Singh took a serious view of corruption in the Indian corporate houses and read out startling statistics supporting it.

“Millions of dollars lying in Swiss Bank do not belong to corrupt politicians or bureaucrats only, a major part of the money belongs to the Indian corporate houses as well. Many companies are playing with the money of investors. There is a need to strengthen the laws and legislation to prevent fraud and scam in India, else investors would lose trust and confidence in economy,” said Joginder Singh.

To make more money, the top management of the companies do not even think about the interest of shareholders and stakeholders. He also appreciated WIPRO by quoting an example where one director was removed on the pretext of producing fake hotel bill of just Rs 600.

RC Khurana (GM, Bank of India) said the main objective of the seminar was to create awareness among the participants about the values and ethical issues in the context of corporate governance.